About 13,000 U.S. auto workers went on strike at midnight after their leaders couldn’t bridge a giant gap between union demands and what Detroit’s three automakers are willing to pay. Via the Associated Press:
Members of the United Auto Workers union began picketing at a General Motors assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri, a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit, and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.
It was the first time in the union’s 88-year history that it walked out on all three companies simultaneously as four-year contracts with the companies expired at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
The strikes will likely chart the future of the union and of America’s homegrown auto industry at a time when U.S. labor is flexing its might and the companies face a historic transition from building internal combustion automobiles to making electric vehicles.
The thing I learned during the 2008 crash was just how much of American manufacturing is tied to the auto industry. That's why they got a bailout -- to prevent a cascade of manufacturing closures.
I grew up in a union household. Members don't go on strike without good reasons.
And as the WGA strike drags on, with Disney's Bob Iger crying poor mouth, remember that back in June, as he started laying workers off at ESPN, the NY Post reported he was renovating his $33 million mansion.
Bob Iger is paid a base salary of $1 million a year, with incentive targets worth up to an additional $25 million per year.
